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Avant-Garde

04/27/2013

In 2012, the avant-garde collective Anti-Social Music released it’s Sleeps Around record, which includes the heavy-drone work I played on called Music for ASM composed by the experimental hip-hop group Dälek

This record is released on vinyl and is contained in an amazing record sleeve that is a work of art on it’s own. (it turns into a cube!) The artist who designed it called “Scrapworm” was just awarded an official patent for it’s design!! Awesome! (www.scrapworm.info)

The initial "hit" song off of the upcoming Dillinger Escape Plan album, called "When I Lost My Bet" (DEP is a popular math rock / metal / grindcore band) got over 100K views in just over 2 days. The song features a literal choir of tuba tracks I recorded as the "sub bass" power chord sound as well as many effected tuba sounds and other brass parts mixed in throughout.

Those brave enough to hear/watch the track (it's intense and the video is GORY) will hear a bass swell at 2:22, a moment people are commenting about -- that's the tuba! Rumor has it that the band is also using TubaJoe samples in their sold-out live shows!

12/14/2011

This week is packed with some interesting brass music... tonight I got to play an exceptionally eclectic program with the Orchestra of the SEM Ensemble. It was nice to play with them again. I got to do some antiphonal Gabrieli as well as John Cage's Atlas Elipticalis.

Brass players all know to revere every second they get to play Gabrieli's antiphonal brass music (especially in a great space for it!) and Atlas Elipticalis is a work I've known about for some time, but had not, until now, had the chance to perform.

Also, the Paula Cooper Gallery in Chelsea is a great place to perform! It's big but-only-enough echoic space was perfect for both of these works.

Also through the week is some typical holiday brass quintetting. Always a decent time!

And then...tomorrow night I get my ass kicked! I get the pleasure of playing a NY premiere of a work for brass quintet, jazz tenor sax, and drumset, composed by NYC-Toronto sax player Quinsin Nachoff; his 'Pyramid Brass Project.' What a brass quintet to be a part of!! (I'll be shedding this one up until the last second before the gig!) I get to share the stage with brassers Ralph Alessi, Shane Endsley, John Clark, Ryan Keberle, drummer Dan Weiss, and tenorist/composer Qunisin. It's going to be brutal!

07/03/2011

On June 21, I joined about 20-ish other brass players at the shores of the Central Park lake to create / perform an ambient work set up just for NYC’s Make Music New York. This annual event presents large-scale (and I mean really large, to the point of being environmental) works throughout the city.

This specific mass-brass event was made up of members of and hosted by the new-music-brass collective named TILT which I occasionally play with, peppered with a nice handful of other players.

The day prior we met for a rehearsal at the amazing Seventh Regiment Armory on the Upper East Side. This great old building and sufficed well as we worked out and experimented with our plan for the outdoor concert the next day.

Set up by three Australian “sound artists”, the work was designed to be best heard from rowboats (which are cheap to rent from the city) out in the lake. We were to perform two sequential performances, each about 45 minutes in duration. It was ridiculously humid out, and we were sweating like mad, as well as swatting a mosquito or two or three or four. We pressed on positively.

We were segregated into many trios and were peppered surrounding the lakeshore. We all did our best to reflect our assigned tones off the water and to hurl them out into the midst as best as possible. My trio was the only low/conical trio, two euphoniums and myself on tuba.

The event got a pile of press including coverage by the NYTimes and NPR. Here is one good clip someone posted from a boat itself, I’m quite audible, sort of resembling a bullfrog, but not intentionally.

Logistically, the work was signaled to start via a sent text message to the leader of each trio, which came from the lead sound artist out in the lake. Thank goodness AT&T was behaving that afternoon. Each trio would then wait for a previous trio to start the long sequential pattern and start at an approximate self-counted time length after. The work had three consecutive “movements” per se, each following a specifically dictated row of tones, dynamics, and intent.

One of my trio was a composer / euphoniumist from Boston, Jason Belcher. He was interviewed about the experience here, it captures the event well.

(this page also includes a link to the great work for TILT Brass by Jason’s teacher, Anthony Coleman, which consequently ends with yours truly belting out a screaming *but* melancholy, unanswered tuba solo, recorded on the recent TILT release, which was a joy to record)

This particular event was surprisingly nice and extremely well received. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

It’s takes a certain type of energy to create an actual cohesive “vibe” out of tones out across a lake. I think we succeeded.

05/16/2011

One of the recently released CD's I am on is is a recording of new works for brass ensemble. The "Tilt" Creative Brass Band is actually a standard-sized full brass ensemble made up of more than just great players, every member is a creative artist all in their own. I was honored to be a part of this group and to play this amalgomation of works by NYC "Downtown" composers. It was an inspirational group of folks to play amongst!

The group is led by trombonist Chris McIntyre and the CD was prodced by the legendary Anthony Coleman. We recorded it at Oktaven Studios in Yonkers, NY.

04/03/2011

The next day we awoke at a decent hour, the jet lag and the previous-night's festivities were semi-slept off. We had rehearsal at the hall. Our vehicles picked us up promptly.

The building the Bimhuis space resides in is incredible! The Musiekgebouw aan 't Ij is a gorgeous specimen of Van der Rohe-ish modernity. The Bimhuis space is a hi-tech listening room located in a cantilevered box that juts out over the river. The entire complex is breathtaking... and what's more incredible is that this amazing structure is completely dedicated to modern music!

Inside this impressive place is a rehearsal room and all the gear we could ever want.

We immediately hit the space and started to work off our travel and refresh our minds. The whole band was into it and ready to work.

After rehearsal we hit the stage for soundcheck... and this audiophiles' room took some getting used to... both on our end as well as on the house crew's end. The thing is with Gato Loco is, while we may at first look like a modern jazz outfit, Gato Loco is really a rock band in disguise. And yes, we are LOUD.

We powered through the soundcheck, doing what we could to get used to the sound of the room, as well as our newer, slightly reduced octet compliment.

Then we checked in to the hotel. THE HOTEL. Wow. It was in the same complex, and absolutely stunning. It was the best hotel room I've ever stayed in. Not the largest room, but it was unequivocally the best. Not only were the beds great, my view over the river Ij was unbelievable. This hotel had to have the best views in all of Amsterdam.

I had a few minutes, so broke out the phone, hooked up the WiFi and used this rare tour time-off to do some Face-Time to catch up with the family back home. (Face-Time is AWESOME)

We then headed back to the venue and had a wonderful dinner, and the show started. A nice violin-led fusion-y band started out the night, followed with a great pianist that worked with prepared piano. Then we got our chance to hit, and we did our best to hit it really hard. Sonically it was tough, but we fought through it like brutes. I have no idea how it came off. We were exhausted and missing that post-show adrenaline that we often have. (more on the results of the show later*) We still decided we needed to celebrate this show; being the first show of our second European tour. The whole band hung out on the ferry dock of the Musiekgebouw aan 't Ij and really enjoyed each other's company. That's an amazing thing about this band is that we all get along so well and genuinely enjoy being around each other.

*note - reviews of the show were AWESOME. In Dutch, but awesome nonetheless.

The next morning, after too little sleep in this majestic hotel, we congregated in the hotel's restaurant for the king-of-all-hotel-continental-breakfasts! HOLY CRAP it was amazing! That breakfast is still a topic of conversation.

We then met in the lobby and waited for our new drivers. We hired a company called “Just Like Your Mom” which is a band touring company out of Belgium. They had driven my sister and the band she's in, Nashville Pussy, and their crew, for almost an entire month just prior to us getting there. Our driver Jonas was also NP's driver. He was prompt and professional, and the van was exactly as promised… and everything fit in the back, including the tuba crate, so all was good. The van was packed tight, but everyone seemed comfortable enough.